The noise! The clamour! The lights!

Leave it to the Chinese to be different. By having the athletes come into the stadium by the number of strokes needed to write the country's name in Chinese, I can't for the life of me tell how many more countries are to come. That said, athletes from Great Britain and the United States of America have already come into the stadium. Wait, Fiji has more strokes than USA? Goodness! I am so hoping the parade of nations is near conclusion. I'm seriously getting bored now with all the flag waving and less than interesting commentary by the BBC presenters. So thank goodness for Jeremy Griffin at the Times who is doing a superb job live blogging the opening ceremony. It's leaving me in stitches.